Wednesday, February 29, 2012

The Scythians were master metal workers. Many Scythian gold objects have been found in burial mounds. Animal designs appear on a large proportion of the items. Some had decorative purposes such as adorning ceremonial weapons, thrones, crowns, and jewelry. Others were used for horse bridals and to decorate the centers of shields.

Since we didn't have the money or expertise to work with gold, our medallions were constructed from polymer clay.

First a piece of clay was rolled flat and cut into a circular shape.

Next, animal and other designs were added to the base.

The clay medallions were baked and then "precious gems and stones" were added. We substituted beads for the stones and gems.

Lastly the clay was painted with gold model paint to look like real gold.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Toboggans like the one shown below are very popular in Germany. Most families with kids have one or two. I love seeing these sturdy wooden sleds. Our landlord let the kids borrow the one she used as a child. Although this winter we have seen very little snow (3 inches total) in our area of Germany, last winter the kids had a blast sledding.

My kids love to cook, but onions and spicy peppers have long been a problem for them. Wearing swim goggles while cooking was the solution they came up with and it apparently works because they no longer complain about their eyes.

This week the kids decided to make sausage rolls from Little Kitchen by Sabrina Parrini which my son received for Christmas.

They mixed shreaded carrots, chopped onions, butter, cooked ground buffalo, and spices. Then they used the pastry puffs to wrap-up the mixture. They baked the rolls and had fun sharing them with the family.

Ground buffalo was substituted for ground sausage and only one-half of the recipe was made. With the exception of the pastry-puff sheets, the recipe was very healthy. (I didn't even know what a pastry-puff sheet was when they selected this recipe.) Next time I will encourage them to make their own dough wrapper.

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them.

** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

I really like Charlotte Mason's method for book selection. For several years I have been constructing this Huge Book List by writing down titles of books recommended by friends, and curriculums which use primarily Living Books. Living Books teach through stories rather than simply listing facts and figures. Although not all the books on the list would be classified as Living Books the majority are Living Books.

My daughter always has her nose in a book. Since most of the books on this list are interesting to read, her reading habit is easy to encourage. I use the list to find books on a particular subject at the appropriate level. It is also an excellent reference when requesting titles on-line from the library.

I've just done a massive update to my Huge Book List. It is sorted first by grade and second by subject. We are far from reading all of the books on this list. I hope you find it useful.

A few months back I received two blog awards from Monique at Mountain of Grace. She has a wonderful blog about homeschooling and living gluten-free. Thank you! I am having so much fun blogging each evening after the kids go to sleep and sometimes when they are awake too.

This week I received the Liebster Blog Award. Thanks to Nicole at Mama of Many Blessings for awarding it to me.

Kreative Blogger Award Rules:
1. Link back to the one who gave you this award

2. Share 10 random facts about yourself

3. Pass the award on to 6 other people

4. Follow the persons blog who sent you it

The One Lovely Blog Award rules are:

1. Link back to the one who gave you this award.
2. Pass the award on to 15 other lovely bloggers.
3. Follow the person who sent it to you.

Liebster Blow Award rules

1. Pass the award on to 5 other bloggers.
2. Share 5 random facts about yourself.

10 Random Facts About Me

1. Everyone in my family's name begins with the letter J. - Parents and Siblings
2. Everyone in my family's name begins with the letter J. - Husband and Children
3. Everyone in my cousin's family begins with the letter J.
4. Two of my favorite foods are pizza and ice cream (although I don't eat them very often). You're much more likely to find me drinking a glass of green juice.
5. This is the first year I haven't gone skiing in 30 years.
6. I have two engineering degrees.
7. I have learned a lot about history since I began homeschooling my children.
8. I lived in three states before living in Germany.
9. I took summer classes in college so I could be a ski bum and teach children how to ski during the winter.
10. I hated reading before I started homeschooling my children.

Here are the bloggers I am passing these awards to. They all have excellent blogs about........

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Needle felting is a wonderful creative craft for all ages. Patterns are not required and a variety of cute items can be created. It only takes a few hours to create a small figure ensuring the opportunity to relish in the sense of accomplishment.

Actually I think my little one was 3 years old when Grandma introduced us to needle felting. Upon seeing the other girls in the house creating cute gnomes and figures she wanted to give it a try. Immediately I thought "NO! You will certainly stab yourself with that needle and it will hurt." Then I thought about it a little more. I poked myself, my 8 year old poked herself, Grandma poked herself.......... it hurt........ and then we continued needle felting taking more care not to do it again. So I gave her a needle and some fiber and she began.

Here are some Celtic people and a pumpkin she recently created.

If you are interested in trying needle felting you will need needles, a foam block and some fiber. I have purchased several items from Mielke's Fiber Arts, LLC.Fiber Sampler - Purchasing a bag with small amounts of fiber of many different colors is a great starting point.Needles - They sell a variety pack of needles here.
Foam Block - You could use the inside part of an old couch cushion, or get the Needle Felting Kit - includes needles and foam block - no fiber.

Friday, February 24, 2012

The fasching parade takes place each year on Faschingsdienstag (i.e. Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday, the day before lent, 46 days before Easter). This year it was February 21st. It is the official end to the fasching season. In the parade are lots of dance groups and bands. Since we live in a community with many Americans this parade also includes groups such as boy scouts, girl scouts, the Air Force Band and fire trucks.

My daughter is lining up for the parade in the red, directly above, and that's me with the red leg warmers in the bottom right picture of the collage. The parade along with with this post pretty much summarizes our last two weeks.

If you want to learn more about our involvement with this German Dance Club there are several posts under fasching on the right-hand side of the blog under German Living Topics.

About Me

I am an American mother of three who spent six years living in Germany. Education has always been a primary focus for me. This blog is packed with fun educational activities for kids. Speed! is a skip-counting game I created in 2011 to help kids learn multiplication. In June 2012 my younger daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia, so that topic has quickly taken over a portion of this blog. You can reach me at
jmommymom @ gmail . com